The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for filling containers, and more particularly to improvements in apparatus of the type wherein the containers which are in the process of receiving metered quantities of flowable material (e.g., a liquid) are maintained in register with and advance with moving material-supplying members in the form of valves or the like. The containers which can be filled in the apparatus of the present invention can constitute bottles, jars, cans or other types of receptacles of the type having a material-receiving opening surrounding an inlet for admission of flowable material into the container.
It is often desirable or necessary to introduce flowable materials at an elevated pressure and to employ material-supplying members supporting reciprocable nozzles which act as differential pistons to urge sealing rings or otherwise configurated sealing elements against the material-receiving portions of containers in the course of a bottling or filling operation. The arrangement is normally such that the nozzle and the adjacent portion of the respective material-supplying member define a plenum chamber which receives a pressurized fluid serving to urge the sealing element on the nozzle into engagement with the material-receiving portion of the registering container. The nozzles further serve as a means for centering the containers with respect to the adjacent material-supplying members, and each nozzle is normally mounted for reciprocatory movement toward and away from engagement with the registering container. A drawback of conventional apparatus of the just described character is that the flowable material is likely to splash and leave the filled containers before such containers reach the capping station. Moreover, conventional bottling or filling apparatus cannot ensure reliable and reproducible filling of containers when the number of containers to be filed per unit of time is to exceed a relatively low value. Still further, the mobile parts and certain other parts of conventional apparatus are subject to extensive wear, and such parts must be machined and assembled with a high degree of precision in order to avoid their deformation or breakage and/or deformation or breakage of containers which are to be filled with a flowable material.